FLINT, MI --Flint District Judge Nathaniel Perry sent Councilman Eric Mays directly to jail for 72 days today, Aug. 15, denying his request for a delay in serving the sentence as he appeals his impaired driving conviction.

Mays was subdued after Perry read his sentence and moments later as Genesee County Sheriff's Office deputies handcuffed and led him from the courtroom -- one officer with a hand on his arm while another gathered documents the councilman had brought into court just minutes earlier.

Mays, who will be transferred to the Lapeer County Jail, quoted Proverbs in remarks to the judge before his sentencing: "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

"In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths."

The first-term councilman had been wary of his sentencing today, appearing before Genesee Circuit Judge Joseph Farah less than 24 hours earlier, also requesting a stay in sentencing.

The Circuit Court judge said the request for a stay in the sentence could not be considered until Perry ruled on the request first.

In issuing the 72-day sentence, Perry said he became convinced during the course of his trial that Mays was driving drunk and the wrong way on I-475 on Nov. 30, when he was arrested, and criticized the councilman for not accepting responsibility for his actions.

"You have not at any point ... apologized to the citizens of this city," Perry said. "This community put (its) trust in you and elected you ... and you selfishly involved yourself in ... this criminal conduct.

"You voluntarily drank to excess ... You were on the wrong side of a busy thoroughfare ... You did put people in jeopardy," he said.

Mays never admitted that he was driving the vehicle he had borrowed on the night of his arrest, and last month, a jury found him not guilty of three of the five misdemeanors he was initially charged with.

The jury replaced one of the remaining charges with a lesser charge of impaired driving, and deadlocked on the final charge.

The jury found Mays not guilty of operating a vehicle while intoxicated, possession of marijuana and refusing to be fingerprinted in connection with the incident.